NEW DELHI: UK nationals visiting India this month will have to undergo mandatory quarantine even if they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in retaliation for UK curbs on Indian citizens, a senior government source in New Delhi said on Friday.
The new rules, which take effect from Monday, follow the UK decision to require Indians vaccinated with AstraZeneca’s Covishield to quarantine.
India mainly relies on the Covishield vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and manufactured in India by Pune-based Serum Institute, which is not recognised by Britain under new rules, despite being identical to the doses given to millions of Britons.
AstraZeneca is one of the key providers to Britain’s vaccination program, along with US peers Moderna and Pfizer.
“India has decided to impose reciprocity on UK nationals arriving in India from the UK,” the source said, declining to be identified in line with government policy.
Government sources in New Delhi had last month warned of retaliation after Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said he had urged for an early resolution after a meeting with his British counterpart at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
VACCINE EXPORT
Meanwhile, the Serum Institute of India, which produces the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, will resume small exports via the global vaccine-sharing platform COVAX this month and raise it substantially by January, its head told The Telegraph.
“Our exports to COVAX will recommence again in October, initially these supplies will be small but by January 2022, once we have satisfied domestic demands – people forget that India is still a lower-middle income country – we will see large volumes go to COVAX,” Chief Executive Adar Poonawalla said.
On Friday India reported 26,727 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, an increase of 13 per cent from Thursday’s when the country had recorded 23,529 cases. At least 277 deaths due to the coronavirus in the last 24 hours took the fatality count to 4,48,339.
The active cases comprise 0.82 per cent of the total infections — the lowest since March 2020 — while the active caseload at present stands at 2,75,224, the lowest in 196 days.
The national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.86 per cent, highest since March 2020. At least 28,246 recoveries in the last 24 hours took the total number of recoveries to 3,30,43,144 in India.
The cumulative Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 89 crore – 69 per cent of the country’s adult population has now received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine and 25 per cent has taken both doses, the government said. — Reuters
